You’re a Historian–Define Your Terms - The paradox of being a scholar is that even when we are complicating matters, our job is always to clarify. ...When I use these terms in my scholarship, I tend to be thinking about the meanings presented here.
The Heroic Justice of Grammatical and Stylistic Decisions - Dr. Kevin Shorner-Johnson continues our look at the power of words with a reflection on how the ethics of diction in the college classroom. See earlier posts on Millennials and persuasion, scriptures in public school, and sexual rhetoric in the Hebrew Bible.      For college students, acts of justice often seem to be abstract…
Looking in Vain for the Temple Prostitute - Our series on the power of words features a reflexive research essay by Abby Sanders. Her exegesis of “the temple prostitute” of Genesis 38 turned into an odyssey through the languages and desires of readers past. With the mentorship of Elizabethtown College professor Dr. Christina Bucher, an undergraduate student visits whom this character is written…
Going through the Emotions: Islamic Calligraphy in a Public School - In the example below, parents at an American public high school balk at the secular study of Islamic calligraphy because the writing’s legacy is sacred for Muslims. Emily Egolf helps us think through the dispute.
Words We Mean By - A year ago I led an undergraduate viewing of the 2015 film, The Central Park Five. The movie chronicles how the New York City law and order establishment wrongfully imprisoned a quintet of black youth for the sexual assault of a white woman in 1989.